Newport, RI Showhouse to be Held at Carnegie Abbey

Proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Newport County and the Star Kids Scholarship Program.

Meaghan O'Neill -- Interior Design, 3/30/2006

Things are starting to bloom on Aquidneck Island, home of Newport, Rhode Island, the waterfront New England city famous for its Gilded Age mansions and long history of yachting. Just in time to beat the summer crowds, design fans find a perfect excuse to visit the charming locale: the Newport Showhouse Guild's 11th annual showhouse.

Held across the island in the bucolic town of Portsmouth, the event, "Charity by Design," will be held from May 6 through June 4 at the posh Carnegie Abbey Club. Sources and local designers including 31 regional interior and lighting designers, artists, builders, and landscapers, were singled out to participate. The roundup includes interior designer Linda Lee Butler, Eileen Marcuvitz of Plum Interiors, Stacy Carlson of Lou Lou's Décor, and Suydam + Diepenbrock Gallery.

The event, open to the public, will donate proceeds to the Boys and Girls Club of Newport County and the Star Kids Scholarship Program.

"We are quite literally breaking new ground with two new homes on the Carnegie Abbey site overlooking Narragansett Bay,” says Caroline Slee, president of the Newport Showhouse Guild. "So we are thrilled with the talent and energy these designers are bringing to this year's showhouse."

Using newly constructed homes, Slee adds, is a first in the organization’s 11-year history. The new construction was spearheaded by the Horan Building Company of Newport.